Breathe

Chapter 40

"The media's the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses." -Malcolm X

I wake up in complete darkness, glancing at the alarm clock to realize it's too early to be awake. I'm surprised that I am awake because I usually sleep in hours longer than everyone else. My head hurts, but it feels better than I deserve. Why the fuck did I do that last night? I wasn't thinking.

I turn over and face Luke who's quietly sleeping beside me. If he wakes up while I'm here, he'll most likely yell at me. I'm definitely not in the mood to be yelled at. Maybe I should just go home? Whatever, I'll decide in a bit.

My phone is charging on the bedside table. Luke must have plugged it in for me last night. I snatch it from the table and head into Luke's bathroom as silently as I can. His cupboard is mostly empty, but I find a few bottles of medicine at the way top. I take down a bottle of Ibuprofen and take out two small, circular pills. These will help with my headache. I pop the pills into my mouth and swallow them down with a cup of water.

I grip the edge of the countertop and stare at myself in the mirror. Fuck, I look like a mess. I can remember for the most part what all happened last night, but the memories are vague. I'm not sure what I said to Michael or Luke. I couldn't have done anything too stupid, right? Yeah, I'm sure everything's fine. Luke will still be angry with me, though.

My feet lead me out of the bathroom and downstairs to the kitchen. I make a fresh pot of coffee and sit down on a stool while it brews. Hopefully I can avoid confrontation with Luke for a little while. I need to at least come up with a reason as to why I got drunk. It shouldn't be that big of a deal, but he knows me too well. I only get drunk when something's wrong. Michael made me feel fine though. I'm not worried about anything anymore. Everything is fine.

There's too many coffee mugs in this cupboard to choose from. I randomly select one and fill the mug almost to the rim. The outside of the mug is burning hot. I'll have to wait a few minutes to drink it.

"Vanessa," a voice behind me says softly but it startles me. Fuck.

"Hi," I say too sweetly when I turn around to face him. He doesn't say anything else. I'd rather have him yelling at me than being completely silent. This is awkward and weird. Instead of speaking, he walks further into the kitchen and pours himself a cup of coffee.

"Did you take any medicine?" he asks.

"Yeah, I took some Ibuprofen."

"Okay." Three minutes of silence pass. I sip my coffee and stare down at my hands. I can feel his eyes on me the entire time.

"Maybe I should go," I say, looking up from the counter.

"You haven't even talked to me yet."

"I don't know what you want me to say," I say. My voice is quiet and gentle. I'm not in the mood to yell right now.

"Are you being serious? We've been together three months and I've never seen you that drunk. Not to mention yesterday was exactly three months of being together. I thought that meant something to girls?"

"What? What's the date."

"Today's the twenty-fourth."

"I can't believe I lost track of the days," I say and run my hand through my hair, tugging on the roots. How the fuck could I forget that? It is important to me. "You should've called me."

"I did! And texted you! Like twenty fucking times."

"I left my phone in the car."

"Clearly."